It is often thought that the boundaries and properties of art-kinds are determined by the things we say and think about them. More recently, this tendency has manifested itself as conceptdescriptivism, the view that the reference of art-kind terms is fixed by the ontological properties explicitly or implicitly ascribed to art and art-kinds by competent users of those terms. Competent users are therefore immune from radical error in their ascriptions; the result is that the ontology of art must begin and end with conceptual analysis. Against this tendency towards concept-driven ontology, I offer a trio of objections derived from: (1) the cultural and temporal variability of concepts of art, (2) the systematic tendency, on the part of would-be ontological assessors, to err on the side of familiar categories or, conversely, to exaggerate minor differences between familiar and unfamiliar practices, and (3) the influence artworld precedents exert over expert and folk concepts alike. These considerations, I argue, mandate an epistemic humility that is simply unavailable to the concept-descriptivist.


A mode decision method for the motion-compensated three-branch HD-MAC system is described. The conventional mode decision method consists of a priori and a posteriori decisions. The correctness of the mode decision has a considerable influence on the picture quality at HD-MAC receivers. The conventional scheme, however, does not provide a good decision result. Thus, a new method by which the modes of blocks ca be determined more correctly is proposed. This method is based on frame-exchange and motion-compensated interpolation. The performance of this method is shown to be better than that of the conventional ones. >


This focus of this thesis is a novel class of water-based magnetic fluids that are specifically tailored to extract soluble organic compounds from water. Magnetic fluids are colloidal dispersions of magnetic nanoparticles that do not settle in gravitational or moderate magnetic fields due to their small size and do not aggregate because of their surface coatings. These materials offer several potential advantages over traditional methods of organic separation, such as activated carbon adsorption. For example, magnetic fluids possess a large surface area for separation while avoiding porous structures thatintroduce a high mass transfer resistance. The magnetic fluids were prepared by precipitation and consist of a suspension of -7.5 nm diameter magnetite (Fe304) nanoparticles coated with a -9 nm thick bifunctional polymer layer comprised of an outer hydrophilic polyethylene oxide (PEO) region for colloidal stability, and an inner hydrophobic polypropylene oxide (PPO) region for solubilization of organic compounds. Characterization of these materials revealed the particle dimensions and magnetic properties. In addition, we examined the colloidal stability of the magnetic fluids over a broad range of conditions. The structure of the polymer shell, which was examined with neutron scattering and lattice calculations, shows some evidence of segregation of the PEO and PPO chains. The magnetic fluids exhibit a high capacity for organic solutes, with partition coefficients between the polymer coating and water on the order of 103 to 105, which is consistent with values reported for solubilization of these organics in PEO-PPO-PEO block copolymer (Pluronic) micelles. The feasibility of using high gradient magnetic separation (HGMS) to separate the Fe30 4 nanoparticles was studied in this work. We present a general model for nanoparticle capture based on calculating the limit of static nanoparticle buildup around the collection wires in an HGMS column. Model predictions were compared successfully with experimental results from a bench-scale HGMS column. Permanent capture of individual nanoparticles is limited by diffusion away from the wires; however, 60-125 nmrr aggregates of particles can be captured permanently in the bench-scale column. The model provided estimates of the minimum particle size for permanent capture of individual nanoparticles and nanoparticle aggregates.


This study intends to identify the values of the Pancasila philosophy in the concept of forgiveness of judges contained in the Draft Criminal Code (RKUHP). This study uses a normative-philosophical approach. The data analysis technique is through the stages of data reduction, data presentation, and data verification. The results of the study show that there are dimensions of the values of the Pancasila philosophy in the concept of forgiveness of judges. Those values are the divinity value, humanity value, national value, democracy value, justice value. The theoretical implication of this research shows that the various values of Pancasila can be the basis of legal paradigms and ideals in the modernization of Indonesian criminal law so that they are in line with the spirit of Indonesian values. The limitation of this research is that it has not reviewed the formal legal provisions of the concept of judge forgiveness


Fabrication and assembly of flexible sensors and soft actuators play important roles in improving the performance of wearable electronics and soft robots. Traditional manufacturing techniques have limitations in controlling the geometry and architecture of many soft actuation and sensing systems, which compromise their performance as well as applications. With the emergence of 3D printing, directly transforming 3D models into real objects becomes possible. In particular, vat photopolymerization techniques, represented by stereolithography, are capable of printing all‐in‐one and lab‐on‐a‐chip devices with fast speed and high accuracy. Novel polymer formulations, including functional resins, hydrogels, elastomers, polymer blends, composites, and biological materials, have been developed for vat photopolymerization 3D printing to produce highly stable architectures, which prompts a remarkable revolution in mechanics and materials for soft electronics. This review looks into the recent developments of vat photopolymerization 3D printing technology for lightweight engineering, personalized electronics, and soft robots.


Background Evidence directly evaluating the efficacy of tadalafil vs. tamsulosin for lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) secondary to benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) is limited. We performed a meta-analysis of published studies to assess the comparative effectiveness of tadalafil vs. tamsulosin in treating LUTS suggestive of BPH. Material/Methods After performing a comprehensive publication search with PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Controlled Trials Register using the search terms "tadalafil", "tamsulosin", "lower urinary tract symptoms", and "controlled", 335 articles were screened, out of which 7 randomized controlled trials published up to July 2019 were identified and included in this meta-analysis review. Results From 335 screened articles, 7 studies (totalling 1601 patients) were finally included in our analysis. There was no statistically significant difference between tadalafil and tamsulosin in improving the clinical outcomes of total International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS), voiding subscores, storage subscores, quality of life (QoL) scores, maximum flow rate (Qmax), and postvoid residual urine (PVR), but a statistically significant difference was observed in the International Index of Erectile Function scores (IIEF scores). Conclusions Tadalafil and tamsulosin have similar effects in managing LUTS secondary to BPH. Tadalafil is superior to tamsulosin in treating LUTS suggestive of BPH when associated with erectile dysfunction (ED).


This article begins with an exposition and critique of the ahistorical approach of neoclassical economics (similar approaches have been criticized -- and an historical approach proposed -- in anthropology by Marvin Harris, 1989, and in sociology by Eric Olin Wright, et al., 1992). Then, there is a discussion of two Marxist approaches, the official versus the critical. By "official Marxism" is mean the version of Marx taught in the former Soviet Union and by most Communist parties for 70 years. By "critical Marxist" is mean all those Marxists who are independent and not tied hand and foot to a particular dogma or an official party program. The historical view of critical Marxism is identical in many respects to the "evolutionary" view of U.S. institutionalists. Many of the points made here in Marxist terminology could be stated equally well in institutionalist terminology, but for lack of space the parallels are developed only briefly in one section. Equilibrium and Universal Laws in Neoclassical Economics The main tool used by neoclassical economists is the notion of equilibrium. It may be defined as follows: "A market or set of markets is in equilibrium if the agents participating in that ... market(s) have no cause to alter their plans (how much they desire to buy and sell)" (Weeks, 1989, p. 36). This type of analysis assumes that the real economic world is mostly in balance, or that it is adjusting back to balance by marginal or incremental changes after some exogenous shock. This approach rules out evolutionary change as the central point of analysis. Paul Samuelson notes that a neoclassical equilibrium theorist "naturally tended to think of models in which things settled down to a unique position independently of initial conditions" (Samuelson, quoted and discussed in Mirowski, 1989, p. 390). Not only is the economic world viewed as an automatic equilibriating process in capitalism, but the same sort of analysis is applied to any society observed by neoclassicals, no matter how different its institutions may be. Thus, the eminent neoclassical theorist, Lord Robbins, attacks "the view that the laws of Economics are limited to certain conditions of time and space, that they are purely historical in character" (Robbins, 1935, p. 80). On the contrary, Robbins sees land, labor, and capital in every society; and he finds rational marginalist optimization behavior by consumers and producers in every society. The specific institutions of slavery or feudalism or primitive clan ownership do not change the marginal laws at all, in his view. Thus, Robbins claims: "No one will really question the universal applicability of such assumptions as the existence of scales of relative evaluation, or of different factors of production ..." (1935, p. 81). Robbins claims that one may draw very important conclusions from such universally valid assumptions. A similar argument was made by the neoclassical economist, G. C. Archibald, who stated that the economic problem consists of scarce resources and insatiable needs; he concluded that this problem "is universal: it transcends times and space, political or social organization ... From the universality of the economic problem, it also follows that if the theory of the firm proves to be a useful ... portion of the theory of allocation ... in a ... capitalist context, so it must be in a Communist context; there must be a Soviet analogy" (quoted in Sawyer, 1989, p. 19). So the same analysis can apply to neolithic cave dwellers, Egyptian pharaohs, feudal nobility in France, and modern English financiers. As one example of this approach, neoclassicals see competition in the market place as a product of an unchanging individual psychology -- whereas Marxists and institutionalists see it as a product of particular socio-economic relations. In the neoclassical view, "The 'market' represents rationality per se, outside any specific social context" (Amin, 1990, p. …


An extracellular phytase from Aspergillus tamari was purified about 51�fold to apparent homogeneity with a recovery of 20.3% referred to the phytase activity in the crude extract. Purification was achieved by ammonium sulphate precipitation, ion chromatography and gel filtration. The purified enzyme behaved as a monomeric protein with a molecular mass of about 85 kDa and


We develop a method for preserving pseudoholomorphic curves in contact 3-manifolds under surgery along transverse links. This makes use of a geometrically natural boundary value problem for holomorphic curves in a 3-manifold with stable Hamiltonian structure, where the boundary conditions are defined by 1-parameter families of totally real surfaces. The technique is applied here to construct a finite energy foliation for every closed overtwisted contact 3-manifold.


Objective To know the establishment of the flap pedicle blood supply and the right moment of the cutting off of pedicle by means of laser Doppler blood perfusion imaging instrument on the random flap blood flow changes.Methods 20 adult healthy rabbits were divided in to four groups and each 5 have unilateral flaps.1,3,5,7,9,12,14,18 days after operation,the pedicle blood perfusion values (PU) measurement of the distal pedicle on the flap and midpoint of both ends of the pedicle were performed,and PU values were analyzed.Results Pedicle of the PU values at the different time points changed little (P>0.05).The PU value in the distal flap reached the minimum 1 day after operation and then increased gradually [3 d (1.24±0.07),5 d (1.57±0.15),7 d (1.79±0.08),9 d(1.89±0.13),12 d(2.01±0.16),14 d(2.18±0.09) and 18 d(2.40±0.18),P<0.05].When distal PU values/pedicle PU value≥1.2,the flap survival rate reached 99%.Conclusions The establishment of random skin flap blood circulation,as well as the ratio of PU values of distal to the pedicle flap pedicle can be used as the timing of an important indicators.

Key words:
Flap; Blood flow changes; Laser Doppler hemoporfnsion imaging; Rabbits


SINGAPORE: New research from the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research has suggested a link between two common childhood diseases: atopic dermatitis and dental caries. In the study, infants who had symptoms of the skin condition and were sensitive to common allergens were three times more likely to develop tooth decay at 2 and 3 years of age compared with infants without the skin inflammation.


Cellular quiescence is a reversible state of cell cycle arrest whereby cells are temporarily maintained in the nondividing phase. Inducing quiescence in cancer cells by targeting growth receptors is a treatment strategy to slow cell growth in certain aggressive tumors, which in turn increases the efficacy of treatments such as surgery or systemic chemotherapy. However, ligand interactions with cell receptors induce receptor‐mediated endocytosis followed by proteolytic degradation, which limits the duration of cellular quiescence. Here, we report the effects of targeted covalent affibody photoconjugation to epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFR) on EGFR‐positive MDA‐MB‐468 breast cancer cells. First, covalently conjugating affibodies to cells increased doubling time two‐fold and reduced ERK activity by 30% as compared to cells treated with an FDA‐approved anti‐EGFR antibody Cetuximab, which binds to EGFR noncovalently. The distribution of cells in each phase of the cell cycle was determined, and cells conjugated with the affibody demonstrated an accumulation in the G1 phase, indicative of G1 cell cycle arrest. Finally, the proliferative capacity of the cells was determined by the incorporation of 5‐ethynyl‐2‐deoxyuridine and Ki67 Elisa assay, which showed that the percentage of proliferative cells with photoconjugated affibody was half of that found for the untreated control.


The emergence of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has led to dramatic improvements in prolonging survival of HIV-infected patients on treatment in resource-limited settings. However, the main drawback of HAART is its potential long-term hepatotoxicity and renal derangements which may be life-threatening and have emerged as important complications that warrant ART switch and/or discontinuation. Information on the prevalence of the above complications in Kenyan affected population is scanty. The current study assessed the prevalence of hepatic and renal toxicity events in one hundred and fifty HIV+ patients [50 HAART naïve and 100 HAART treated subjects] based on clinical laboratory assays. Data were matched for HAART status, age, sex and the duration patients had been on ARV treatment and were analyzed using SAS version 9.2. The prevalence of hepatotoxicity based on elevated alanine aminotransferase analyte above upper limit of normal was 18% in HAART treated and 8% in HAART naïve patients. The prevalence of renal derangements based on elevated creatinine analyte above upper limit normal was 4% in HAART treated and 8% HAART naïve group. However, the prevalence of hepatotoxicity and renal derangements cases did not vary significantly between HAART experienced and HAART naïve subjects (χ 2 ; P=0.59 and P=0.9 respectively). Renal insufficiency was more common in HAART naïve patients Results from this study can help healthcare actors and providers to pay greater attention to individualized treatment of HIV and AIDS using HAART so as to reduce toxicities and co-morbidities that reduce the quality of life and increases the risk of death. They can also help in finetuning HAART regimens and prescription dosage in order to reduce toxicity levels.


A new unsymmetrical photochromic diarylethene compound, 1-[2-methyl-5-(4-trifluoromethylphenyl)-3-thienyl]-2-[2-methyl-5-(3-fluoro-4-chloro) phenyl-3-thienyl] perfluorocyclopentene (1o) was synthesized, and its properties, such as photochromism and fluorescence properties in solution as well as in PMMA amorphous film, were investigated specifically. 1o exhibits good photochromism and fluorescence upon alternating irradiation with UV light and visible light (> 510 nm) in hexane and a PMMA film.


The invention discloses a safety storage system of mobile phone short messages, which comprises a storage mode selecting module, an information extracting module, an information transmitting/forwarding module and an information storing module, wherein the storage mode selecting module is used for selecting the safety level and the storage position of mobile phone short messages to be stored of users; the information extracting module is used for extracting the contents of the mobile phone short messages received by the users, wherein the contents comprise original sender numbers, information receiving time, information types, information contents, holder numbers, storage time and remarks; the information transmitting/forwarding module is used for transmitting/forwarding the mobile phone short messages to the information storing module; and the information storing module is used for storing the mobile phone short messages sent from the information transmitting/forwarding module. The system further comprises an encrypting module, a label editing module and an information management module. The invention solves the problems that in the prior art, the mobile phone short messages can not be safely stored for a long time and can not be used as evidence and the like.


In data mining, clustering is a well-known and useful technique. One of the most powerful and frequently used techniques is k-means clustering. Most of the privacy-preserving solutions based on cryptography proposed by different researchers in recent years are in semi-honest model, where participating parties always follow the protocol. This model is realistic in many cases. But providing stonger solutions considering malicious model would be more useful for many practical applications because it tries to protect a protocol from arbitrary malicious behavior using cryptographic tools. In this paper, we have proposed a new protocol for privacy-preserving two-party k-means clustering in malicious model. We have used threshold homomorphic encryption and non-interactive zero knowledge protocols to construct our protocol according to real/ideal world paradigm.


To the Editors:

As a result of the increased sensitivity of videobronchoscopy (including narrow-band and video autofluorescence imaging) and a specific interest in surveillance of pre-invasive lesions, an increase in diagnosis of radiographically occult lung carcinoma (ROLC) can be anticipated. Described for the first time in the late 1970s by Martini and Melamed 1 and in the early 1980s by Cortese et al. 2, surgery still remains the treatment of choice for ROLC 3. However, patients can be functionally inoperable due to comorbidity, advanced age, multiple primary lesions or irresectable, centrally localised tumours, or because they refuse surgery 2. Therefore, varieties of endoscopic techniques, such as photodynamic therapy, cryotherapy, laser therapy, electrocautery and brachytherapy, were developed as alternatives to surgery 3–5. The combination of high-dose external-beam radiotherapy (EBRT) with intraluminal radiotherapy (IR) using low 6–8, middle 9 and high dose-rate 10 iridium-192, has been investigated in ROLC with promising results. EBRT has obvious advantages to surgery, as it is less invasive and better tolerated by the patient. A major issue is, however, the localisation of the tumour for the guidance of EBRT, since these tumours are radiologically occult. Previously, in those studies combining EBRT with IR 6–10 …


Host specialization plays a central role in the diversification of herbivorous insects and yet we know very little about the evolution of this trait. Populations of the pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum (Harris), are specialized and locally adapted to either alfalfa or clover. Preference for either plant produces assortative mating, and gene flow between alfalfa and clover populations is consistently restricted (Via, 1991a,b, 1994). Behavioural studies of freely‐moving aphids on the plant surface for 30 min suggest that host preference is chemically mediated, involves chemoreception, and is most likely due to secondary compounds located in the epidermal or mesophyll cells. Pea aphids do not distinguish between hosts and non‐hosts at a distance but determine whether the plant is suitable or not after only a short probe. Thirty‐minute recordings of the activities of aphid stylets using an electrical monitoring system (EPG), where aphids are attached to a gold wire with silver paint, provide a different picture, suggesting that EPG experiments do not accurately reflect natural behaviour during the first 30 min of the aphid‐plant interaction.


This paper describes miniature low cost sensor module for measurement of gas concentration. The aim of this paper is to explain how to make a miniature module with low power consumption and low cost, which can be used for many types of electrochemical gas sensors without major hardware changes. Device is based on AVR ATmega8 microcontroller. As signal processing circuit a specialized integrated circuit LMP91000 configurable via I2C interface is used. All parameters are saved in EEPROM memory. For communication with master device RS-485 interface is used. In application, after power up, sensor device reads parameters from memory and configure the circuit for signal processing, than the sensor is ready to sends data upon master device request. Master device can change any parameter at any time. The designed sensor module costs less than 10 Euros and consumption less than 4 mA, which is in the idle mode is reduced to about 1mA.


Listeria spp, a Gram positive and non-spore forming bacteria, are widely distributed in nature and different food products. Among Listeria spp., only Listeria monocytogenes is considered as potential human pathogen. In this study, we have screened fish samples procured from local markets of Cochin for the presence of Listeria spp. including L. monocytogenes . 25.7 % of the samples tested were found to harbour Listeria spp. The incidence rate of Listeria spp. in finfish, prawn and clam were found to be 26.8 %, 10 % and 37.5 %, respectively. But L. monocytogenes has not been detected in any of the fish samples tested. Listeria innocua was found to be the most prevalent species of Listeria . The isolates were characterized by Listeria genus specific PCR as well as L . monocytogenes , L. innocua & L. ivanovii species specific PCR. All of our L. innocua isolates have been confirmed by both genus and species specific PCR. For confirmation of species of Listeria , PCR has been shown to be an effective tool.


Pesticide formulation science is significant to deal with formulation development, production and storage as well as the interaction of the pesticide with plants, insects, mammals, soil, air and water. Aqueous pesticide microemulsion has become one of the most potential pesticide formulation instead of the conventional pesticide formulation in recent years. Very few works has studied the methodology of pesticide microemulsion preparation with environment-friendly compound.The green environment-friendly chorpyriphos pesticide microemulsion was successfully obtained through the further trials of screening of heat storage and cold storage experiments and the examination of dissociation rate. The optimized chorpyriphos microemulsion formulation is composed of chlorpyrifos (2.366%), ethyl acetate (1.001%), agricultural emulsifier 600(5.714%), natural carboxylate (2.857%), glycol (33.972%), ethanol (14.571%), and water (39.519%).


The mechanisms for obtaining fiscal resources to sustain the public sector have generated the need for the governments of the shift to introduce Multiple tax reforms; Colombia is a country with a great diversity of tax rules, each reform causes the issuance of statutory decrees, concepts by the tributary administrator and sentences emanating from the courts that make possible the application of these rules adjusted to Right. Added to this is the large number of exemptions, evasion and circumvention mechanisms of the different sectors of the national economy, in this sense, the agrarian sector presents the most representative indexes of evasion and circumvention given the high informality and frequent Normative ignorance of agro-producers.


Abstract Most students meet Shakespeare in middle or high school, on a page in a book in an English classroom. This first encounter is a disservice to the students themselves and to Shakespeare: Shakespeare's plays are works of both literature and theatre, and should be taught as such. A performance-based teaching approach not only provides high school students, like me, and middle school students with the richest understanding of Shakespeare's plays but also offers a wide array of transcendent academic and social benefits. From increased vocabulary to deeper emotional connections, these benefits help middle and high schoolers grow as students and as individuals. Guided by the opinions of teaching artists, I relive my own middle and high school experiences with Shakespeare to demonstrate the merits of the performance-based approach, both under normal circumstances and during the COVID-19 pandemic.


The catalytic activity of Pt catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) has been widely studied and they have served as a standard for evaluating new ones. However, there is no established method for determining their intrinsic activity, and thus, the value for the catalytic activity of Pt/C used in such comparisons varies widely. This study sought a reliable method for assessing the surface-specific activities of Pt or Pt alloy nanoparticle catalysts for ORR, and gaining insights on the key factors determining overall catalytic performance. Rotating disk electrode (RDE) measurements of commercial Pt/C (20%, 2.2 nm from E-TEK) in HClO4 solutions were carried out. Fig. 1 shows the voltammetry curves obtained after the catalyst was cleaned by potential cycles and solution replacements. The effective surface atomic density of the Pt/C sample was determined by the hydrogen desorption charge. In contrast to the highly symmetric feature for OH adsorption on Pt(111), the voltammetry curves for Pt/C exhibit a rise in the reduction current near 100 mV with increasing positive potential limit. In addition, the pulsing experiment, shown in Fig. 2, revealed that the decay in ORR current after 1 min at 850 mV was only fully reversed at potentials below 100 mV. These facts suggest that surface oxide forms on Pt nanoparticles over a wide potential region, resulting in a slow decay in ORR activity. Fig. 3a shows the best fits to the polarization curves obtained at different sweep rates. Using the values for the apparent Tafel slope and exchange current from the fits, and the surface atomic density determined by hydrogen desorption charge, the surface-specific kinetic currents as a function of potential are plotted in Fig. 3b. The values at 850 mV show that there is a big loss in intrinsic activity from bulk surface to nanoparticles, especially in the quasi-stable activity measured at the low sweep rate (0.256 versus 2.52, about 90% loss). The polarization curve measured at 80°C in a fuel cell (circles in Fig. 4) was analyzed using the method we recently developed to extract the ORR kinetic current by separating out the ORR overpotential from the hydrogen oxidation overpotential, IR drop, and mass transport resistance. At 850 mV, the ORR kinetic current of 0.37 mA/nmol is comparable to those measured by RDE at 25°C. A fuller description will be given using new RDE data at higher temperature. In summary, we will detail the procedure for assessing the intrinsic activity for ORR using RDE methods, which yield the highest surface-specific activity under clean and low mass transport limitation conditions. We also found that Pt nanoparticles are more prone to surface oxidation, causing an order of magnitude loss of durable activity, which is likely to be the performancedetermining factor for ORR on Pt and Pt alloy catalysts. The method for analyzing the fuel cell polarization curve will be discussed in details, as well as the comparison of the intrinsic activities measured by RDE and in fuel cells. Fig. 1 Voltammetry curves in a 0.1 HClO4 solution.


This document details the development life cycle of the computer system based on mobile application which uses geolocation for the registration of potholes in the roads of Quito city. This system focuses on the automation of the actual procedure carried out by the administration of each zone inside the Quito District Metropolitan Municipality, for the prioritization and attention of these anomalies.
The elaboration of this project was centered in the Zone Administration "Eloy Alfaro". It consisted of doing a full analysis of the current problems, definition of the requirements, design, construction, tests and implementation of the computer system.
The solution built seeks to reduce the time spent by the individuals involved on the process on each stage. The system is made up of a mobile application that allows the registration and geolocation of potholes by capturing a photograph at the site of the event. Additionally, by using this application it is possible to validate the repair of each registered pothole, which is then verified by taking another image. Finally, as part of the project, a Web application was created with the main functionality of visualize, manage, and control the records made through the mobile application.


Research on physiological genetic mechanism of crop water use efficiency has been paid much attention to in the field of dryland crop breeding.Under the experimental conditions of no-watering during the wheat whole growth and development stage,comparative studies on flag leaf water use efficiency of different wheat new lines(regional trials of Shandong Province) were carried on,and the relations between flag leaf water use efficiency and photosynthesis characteristics during the later development stage of the trial wheat lines were analysised.The results showed that: Under the experimental conditions of no-watering during trial wheat whole growth and development stage,photosynthesis,stomata conductance,transpiration rate,water use efficiency of flag leaves had significant difference,however,the new lines of DI0217,0415,0414 kept higher photosynthesis,lower stomata conductance,estimating these new lines with high water use efficiency and in favor of adapting drought stress.Meanwhile,QingL155 and 0416 have higher photosynthesis and water use efficiency than CK,moreover,flag leaf WUE of all of the trial lines was higher than CK(Lumai 21),especially,0415 and 0414 behaved so higher,which indicated that these new lines are very potential to be generalized in dry land.


AIMS
This study aimed to provide a simple index for predicting the definite indication for transcatheter closure of atrial septal defect (ASD) with pulmonary arterial hypertension(PAH).

METHODS AND RESULTS
A positive responseafter attempted occlusion was defined as mean pulmonary artery pressure (MPAP) ≤ 30 mmHg or the decrement percentage of it ≥20% compared with the baseline. If a positive response was achieved, the occluder would be released, and the procedure was defined as successful. In 209 patients underwent successful procedure without PAH-specific medicine, there was a dramatic decrease in the percentage of patients with pulmonary arterial systolic pressure (PASP) ≥ 50 mmHg from baseline to the one-year follow-up (79.4% to 14.0%, P<0.001). The optimalcut-offvalue of MPAP to predict a positive response without PAH-specific medicine was 35.0 mmHg, with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.919 (P <0.001). Administration of inhaled iloprost extended the cut-off point to 50.0 mmHg to reach a positive response, with an AUC of 0.774 (P=0.003).

CONCLUSIONS
This large-scale studyindicated that MPAP could be a simple but powerful index to predict benefit from closure in adult ASD patients with PAH.


This work was carried out on the characterization of virgin olive oils from the Moroccan picholine, the main variety cultivated in this country. The picholine samples were obtained from five different locations in Tadla Azilal area (Moroccan centre): Ksiba (KS), Bradia (BR), Beni Mellal (BM), Souk Sebt (SS) and Fkih Bensalah (FBS). They were analyzed for their composition in fatty-acids, triglycerides and sterols during the crop years 2010/1011. The sterols profile of Tadla azilal virgin olive oils produced by Moroccan picholine cultivar was established by gas chromatography using a flame ionization detector. More than ten compounds were identified and characterized. As expected for virgin olive oil, the main sterols found in all olive oil zones were ?-sitosterol, ?5-avenasterol, campesterol and stigmasterol. Cholesterol, campestanol, ?7-stigmastenol and ?7-avenasterol were also found in all samples, but in lower amounts. Most of these compounds are significantly affected by the geographical origin. For the fatty acids composition, many of them were detected in the virgin olive oils of the studied zones. Indeed, the five olive oils analyzed have shown a fatty acid composition close to the EEC established limits (EEC, 2003). However, the Variations in linoleic acid contents were observed in olive oil samples of other varieties. Keywords: Tadla azilal area, Virgin Olive Oil, Moroccan Picholine, Sterols, fatty acids.


This paper describes the synthesis, characterization, and testing of inexpensive, environment-friendly alternative for the Nafion® membranes in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFC). Membranes based on crosslinked polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) with colloidal silica fillers (0.1 wt%, 1 wt%, 5 wt%. 10 wt %), were synthesized via solution casting method. Colloidal silica was added to reduce the gas crossover and maintain the membrane humidity. These membranes were characterized systematically for water uptake capacity, ion exchange capacity, ionic conductivity, chemical durability, and hydrogen crossover. V-I characteristics of fuel cells based on each membrane were analyzed under different conditions of humidity . PVA-SSA-1 wt% SiO2 cell was found to be the best among the compositions studied, with a maximum power density of 0.2 W cm−2 at 0.4 V under wet condition whereas Nafion® 115 membranes demonstrated 0.33 W cm−2 under flooded conditions. However, the PVA-SSA-1 wt% SiO2 membrane was found to be less sensitive to the humidity variations in the reactant gases compared to Nafion®115 membranes. Performance of PVA-SSA-SiO2 membranes was compared with Nafion® 115 and the results have been discussed.


Declarative approaches to camera control model inputs as properties on the camera and then rely on constraint-based and/or optimization techniques to compute the camera parameters or paths that best satisfy those properties. To reach acceptable performances, such approaches often (if not always) compute properties satisfaction in an approximate way. Therefore, it is difficult to measure results in terms of accuracy, and also compare approaches that use different approximations. In this paper, we propose a simple language which can be used to express most of the properties proposed in the literature and whose semantics provide a way to accurately measure their satisfaction. The language can be used for several purposes, for example to measure how accurate a specific approach is and to compare two distinct approaches in terms of accuracy.


We present a physical model of laser thermogenetic neurostimulation, which combines radiation- and heat-transfer analysis with thermodynamic treatment of thermosensitive cell-membrane ion channels and the electrophysical description of the neuron response to the thermal gating of ion channels. Based on the analysis performed within the framework of this model, we identify the parameter space within which laser thermogenetic neurostimulation can be confined to a single neuron and show that an accurately dosed nonstationary heat transfer set off by near-infrared laser pulses with a laser wavelength chosen within the transparency window of water, centered at ≈1670 nm, can help extend single-cell thermogenetic neurostimulation to deep brain regions.We present a physical model of laser thermogenetic neurostimulation, which combines radiation- and heat-transfer analysis with thermodynamic treatment of thermosensitive cell-membrane ion channels and the electrophysical description of the neuron response to the thermal gating of ion channels. Based on the analysis performed within the framework of this model, we identify the parameter space within which laser thermogenetic neurostimulation can be confined to a single neuron and show that an accurately dosed nonstationary heat transfer set off by near-infrared laser pulses with a laser wavelength chosen within the transparency window of water, centered at ≈1670 nm, can help extend single-cell thermogenetic neurostimulation to deep brain regions.


Knowledge sharing is one of the important factors in knowledge-based industries due to the fact that knowledge sharing can result in knowledge creation (Noanaka, Umemoto, & Seonoo, 1996) and innovation (Kamsak & Bulutlar, 2010; Wang & Wang, 2012). Thus, by considering that innovation can impact different dimensions of performance (financial and non-financial), (Cohen, 2010), increasing knowledge sharing is one of the necessities in any type of company. Knowledge sharing can be relevant to individual tendency for donating and collecting knowledge (Van Den Hoof & De Ridder, 2004) Different researches have been conducted about influential factors on knowledge sharing. Such researches have emphasized on environmental factors, motivational factors, individual factors, etc. (Wang & Noe, 2010; Li & Poon, 2011) that among such factors, many different theories such as social capital, resource-based review (RBV) and social exchange can be observed. Through narrowing these factors according to available concepts in human resource management (HRM) and organizational behavior, HRM practices have key role on increasing knowledge sharing. HRM practices have strategic contribution (Lengnick-Hall, Lengnick-Hall, Andrade, & Drake, 2009) as well as previous researches (Huselid, 1995; Wright, Gardner, & Moynihan, 2003; Chen & Huang, 2009) regarding RBV theory have the capability to impact employee behavior in case of sharing knowledge. Fong, Ooi, Tan, and Lee (2011), studied impact of HRM practices (training, staffing, performance appraisal, team work and reward) on knowledge sharing as gap of previous researches. Results demonstrated that HRM practices have a key role on improving knowledge sharing. If we consider talent as one of the knowledge resources or as a scope for dependent researches to impact of talent on sharing knowledge, so according to conducted research by Gelen et al. (2013) role of justice will be highlighted in case of relationship between HRM practices and knowledge sharing. It will result to the fact that existed interaction between equity theory (Pritchard, 1969) and underlying theories of researches will become important. There was little focus about this subject in previous researches. However, Khanmohammdi (2014) also emphasized on moderating role of justice in case of relationship between IT, management support, training and reward and knowledge sharing. Universities of Malaysia currently attempt to improve their position in global ranking. One of the helpful aspects for improving scientific level of universities is utilizing of high potential of lecturers. In this regard, improving knowledge sharing level among lecturers results in science creation (Khanomohammadi, 2014). Through considering lecturers as talents and also importance of knowledge sharing among them, it is necessary to clarify role of HRM practices and justice. Hence, this research aims to examine what is the relationship between HRM practices, perceived justice, and knowledge sharing in the Malaysian universities.


We show a new design of unitary differential space-time modulation (DSTM) with low decoding complexity, i.e. its decoding can be performed by two parallel decoders where each of the decoder has a search space of only radicN for a codebook with N codewords. The design is based on orthogonal space-time block code (O-STBC) and spherical code. We separate the symbols of an O-STBC into two groups and jointly modulate the symbols within a group using a joint constellation set constructed from spherical code. The proposed unitary DSTM scheme has a lower decoding complexity than many other DSTM schemes including those based on group codes and Sp(2) with better or comparable decoding performance. It also achieves a better performance than existing DSTM schemes with similar decoding complexity


This paper discusses the effect of the use of SDLTM database management capabilities on the modeling and analysis procedures employed in studying two health care delivery systems: the use of capitation reimbursement in the Iowa Medicaid drug program and the availability of primary care in Indiana. Emphasis is placed on the construction and organization of databases from data produced by running simulation models. This data can then be used to compute measures of performance independently of the running of models. Furthermore, the decomposition of a large, complex model into a set of smaller, less complex component models is discussed. In addition, the assessment of alternatives and the iterative definition and computation of performance measures are described.


EEEP (International Conference on Energy Engineering and Environmental Protection) is an annually held conference for all researchers home and abroad since 2016, aiming to provide a good platform for scholars and researchers in the field of energy and environmental protection to discuss the latest developments and achievements, work out good solutions, and make contributions. The Sixth International Conference on Energy Engineering and Environmental Protection (EEEP2021) was planned to be held in Sanya, China on November 16-18, 2021. Due to the epidemic of COVID-19, the event had to be changed from onsite to online during November 16-17, 2021 for academic exchanges & discussions. List of Technical Program Committee, Special Session on Intelligent Integrated Energy Systems are availbale in this pdf.


Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) are polymeric receptors with selectivity for a predetermined structure. The molecular imprinting process generates cavities in a synthetic polymer matrix that ...


A simple and efficient Lambda logic (λ-logic) based algorithm is proposed for the solution of the generator constrained economic dispatch problem when the generating units having prohibited zones. The proposed method solves the economic dispatch (ED) problem that takes into account ramprate limits, transmission losses and prohibited operating zones in the power system operation. The proposed method uses a simple heuristic rule based on average power of prohibited operating zones which produces the feasibility of solution for the restricted operating units. The effectiveness of the algorithm is tested on five different test systems and the performance compared with other relevant methods reported in the literature. In all the cases, the proposed algorithm performs better than the previous existing algorithms with a less computational burden.


Object class detection, also known as category-level object detection, has become one of the most focused areas in computer vision in the new century. This article attempts to provide a comprehensive survey of the recent technical achievements in this area of research. More than 270 major publications are included in this survey covering different aspects of the research, which include: (i) problem description: key tasks and challenges; (ii) core techniques: appearance modeling, localization strategies, and supervised classification methods; (iii) evaluation issues: approaches, metrics, standard datasets, and state-of-the-art results; and (iv) new development: particularly new approaches and applications motivated by the recent boom of social images. Finally, in retrospect of what has been achieved so far, the survey also discusses what the future may hold for object class detection research.


The coastal Burnett alluvial aquifer system, comprising the Tertiary Elliott Formation and Fairymead Beds has supplied water for irrigation and domestic uses since the late 1800's. Excessive groundwater extraction has stressed the aquifers beyond their long term yield, resulting in seawater intrusion in the 1960's and need for intensive management since. To understand regional-scale seawater intrusion processes in the system, a pseudo-three-dimensional, two-layered numerical model of seawater intrusion has been developed using the MODHMS code. It is based on the calibrated groundwater flow model (MODFLOW) and the transport parameters were adjusted manually to get the truthful depth-averaged concentration distribution. The model has proven to be a useful tool in assessing the relative impacts of different groundwater management scenarios proposed for the coastal Burnett aquifer. Seawater intrusion is represented as lateral movements of depth-averaged concentration fronts in the two represented aquifer layers.


American Journal of Hospice & Palliative Care Volume 16, Number 2, March/April 1999 Late referrals to hospice remain a major roadblock to providing this care to no more than 15 to 20 percent of dying patients. Much has been written about this problem. The bottom line, even in 1999, is that most physicians still do not understand the principles of hospice care. Ask any doctor on any medical staff to explain hospice and you will receive a wide variety of answers. A common response, however, is that hospice is only for those patients who are near death. This perception undoubtedly accounts for these late physician referrals. Indeed, some hospices have average lengths of stay of nine to 10 days. How can this be, you ask, since hospice in the United States is almost 20 years old? No more excuses for adolescent, growing behavior—hospice is about to enter adulthood. Unfortunately, during its growth years hospice collected baggage. The failure to involve physicians in the formative years remains the heaviest piece of baggage that hospice still carries. Since hospice developed outside of mainstream medicine, this initial isolation only added to the physician misperception of hospice. Furthermore, the enactment of the hospice Medicare benefit only compounded the problem by asking doctors to estimate their patients' life spans, something most physicians are ill equipped to do. Medicare hospice was successful in "boxing" hospice, that is, creating one model with conflicting rules and regulations and too many ifs, ands, or buts. To entice more physician involvement and subsequent referrals to hospice, different strategies have been tried over the years. One such idea, the concept of transitional care, was introduced in the early 1980s. This concept was developed in response to the ongoing debate, at that time, about the role of blood transfusions, chemotherapy, and other "active" treatments for dying patients. Transitional care allowed the patient to continue on some sort of therapy, although he or she fully understood that the disease was progressing and that continued treatment most likely would not be successful. In this manner, pain and other symptoms were controlled and the patient was "transitioned" into hospice after the treatments were stopped. This worked for some programs and helped physicians better understand the role of hospice in managing pain and symptoms. As hospice matured throughout the 1980s, the issue of treatment became a moot point, and these so-called "transitional" patients were admitted directly into hospice programs. As the 1980s merged into the '90s, two significant events occurred. First, hospices realized that their real customer was the doctor and actively started to promote their programs to capture physician referrals. Second, the narrow perception of hospice by physicians was finally recognized and major attempts were made to broaden this concept into palliative care, regardless of the disease entity or the prognosticated length of survival. The pathophysiology of the dying process was redefined. Chronic, incurable diseases were characterized by three distinct periods. In the initial, or stable, period, the patient experiences few symptoms and life span is measured in months to years as with dementia or motor neuron disease. The second, or symptomatic, period is characterized by a worsening of the underlying Editorial


Problem-Based Learning (PBL) is a constructivist teaching methodology, created in the late sixties, with an active learning process performed by the student to solve a proposed problem, meticulously specified to provide acquisition of knowledge by discovery. This article proposes a systematic literature review of publications on the subject, which involve the use of Learning Management Systems (LMS) for implementing networked PBL, i.e. PBL procedures over the Internet, either partially or totally. It was found that PBL network had been the subject of interest of the academic community from different angles: development of theoretical and computational models to support the design of activities for networked PBL activities; evaluation of LMS technologies to support networked PBL;evaluation of the practice of networked PBL supported by LMS technologies; and the development of plug-ins that add functionality to the LMS Moodle to make it able to support specific PBL models performed through the Internet.


The biological safety of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) Strain YJ-2000 which acted the low toxicity to Bombyx mori newly hatched larvae and marked insecticidal activity to other lepidopterous insects was evaluated compared with other two Bt strains,i.e. CRY1Ab and YJ-1999 with high toxicity to Bombyx mori newly hatched larvae.As compared with those of the control,the survival rate,stadia,feeding amount and molter body weight of 2nd instar and more older larvae,pupation rate,pupal span,cocoon weight,pupal weight,cocoon shell weight,emergence rate and amount of laid eggs were not affected after treatment with Bt YJ-2000,except that about 11.1% in the stadia,0~60.0% in feeding amount and 52.3%~62.5% molter body weight of lst instar larvae were markedly lengthened,minimized and lightened,respectively.In contrast,CRY1Ab and YJ-1999 could cause all newly hatched larvae dead as treated at high concentration.They could not kill all newly hatched larvae as treated at low concentration,however perform marked negative effects on growth and development,cocooning and oviposition of the survived larvae,which were restored from CRY1Ab or YJ-1999 treatment at low concentration,at most cases.It was concluded that YJ-2000 not only showed low toxicity to the silkworm,but also acted no marked negative impacts on growth and development,cocooning as well as fecundity of the silkworm.


Upper elementary school students who have reading problems may have difficulty in one or more areas of reading, each requiring specific types of interventions. This study evaluated a short-term reading intervention for 46 fifth-grade students with poor reading comprehension. Students were randomly assigned to an intervention or no treatment control condition. The 40 session (20 hr) intervention targeted reading comprehension strategy instruction in the context of informational science texts. Analyses showed statistically significant effects favoring the intervention on two proximal measures (i.e., measures closely related to the intervention content). The effects for the outcomes were moderate (gs = 0.61 and 0.72). There were no statistically significant differences on distal measures (i.e., measures less closely aligned with the intervention). The findings provide support for the efficacy of a reading comprehension intervention that may inform short-term interventions within a Response to Intervention framework.


(NOTE: Each chapter concludes with Summary.) I. LAYING THE FOUNDATION. 1. What's in a Name? COM. DCOM. MTS. Windows DNA. COM+. ActiveX. OLE. 2. Classes, Objects, and Interfaces. What is Object-Orientation? Classes. Objects. Interfaces. 3. Get on the Software Bus. Software Bus Problems. 4. Building Your First COM Object. The Simple Spell Checker. A Summary of the Steps. Creating a New DLL Project Using Visual C++. Creating a Custom Interface Using IDL. Declaring a C++ Class That Implements the COM Interface. Implementing the SpellChecker Interface. Creating a Class Object. Creating the Required DLL Entry-Points. Creating the Registration Functions. Creating a Client. 5. Making It Simple with ATL and Visual C++ COM Native Support. A Quick Introduction to ATL. The Writer's Component. Creating an ATL Project Using the ATL/COM AppWizard. Adding the Document Checker COM Class Using the ATL Object Wizard. Implementing ISpellChecker. Implementing IgrammarChecker. Creating a Client with Visual C++'s Native COM Support. II. DIGGING DEEPER. 6. Creating an Out-of-Process Server. Marshaling. Instancing. Class Object Registration. Registering an Out-of-Process Server. Building an Out-of-Process Server. A Summary of the Steps. 7. Automation. Defining Automation. Idispatch. Defining Idispatch Interfaces. Variants. Dual Interfaces. Building an Automation Server. A Summary of the Steps. COM Callbacks and Connectable Objects. Understand COM Callbacks/Events. Connectable Objects. Implementing Connection Points. The Connection Point Protocol. Your Multithreaded Stock Monitor Example. 9. COM Threading. Definitions and Background. Multi-Threading and COM. Implement Objects That Will Run in Any STA. Implement Objects That Will Run in the Primary STA. Implement Objects That Will Run in the MTA. Implement Objects That Will Run in the TNA. Compare the Different Threading Models: An Apartment Study. 10. Distributed COM. The Importance of DCOM. Location Transparency Revisited. Security. Example: Configuring a Server via DCOM. III. COM+. 11. An Introduction to the COM+ Architecture. Why Do You Need COM+? Application Architecture. The COM+ Solution. How It Works: The COM+ Architecture. Configure an Object to Use COM+. 12. An Introduction to the COM+ Services. Fine-Grained Security. Transactions. Scalabilty. Synchronization. Queued Components. Load Balancing. Compensating Resource Managers. 13. Building a 3-Tiered Application Using COM+ and Windows DNA 2000. What is the Windows DNA? The Windows DNA 2000. Creating Your First COM+ Application. The Publisher Example Program. Building the Publisher Example Application. Object Pooling. Deploying COM+ Application. Differences Between COM+ and MTS. Debugging with COM+. 14. Queued Components. What are Queued Components? Why Do You Need Queued Components? Microsoft Message Queue. Installing and Using MSMQ. Using Queued Components in Your Example Program. 15. COM+ Events. Why Do You Need COM+ Events? COM+ Events. Using Queued Components with Events. COM+ Events and Transactons. Filtering Events. Using COM+ Events in a Distributed Environment. Your COM+ Stock Monitoring Program. Index.


A new technique for simultaneous multi-angle ellipsometric measurements of anisotropic optical structures such as films used in the display industry is introduced. A very small area on the sample is illuminated with a focused beam which after it interacts with the sample and is polarization analyzed is spread across a CCD. Each pixed collects light from a different angle incident on the sample allowing data collection at numerous incident angles simultaneously. The small but significant polarization aberrations of the microscope objectives provide a significant challenge to accurate measurement A mathematical description of the ellipsometric technique is presented. The optical properties of two biaxial samples, a stretched plastic retarder element used for correcting angle of incident effects in LC displays, and a thin layer of E-type polarizing dried liquid crystal material are measured and maps of the ellipsometric parameters Ψ and ▵ as a function incident and azimuthal angles are presented. Data from both samples are reduced using an iterative algorithm with a biaxial thin film modeling software package to compute all three principle components of the dielectric tensor as well as it's orientation.


Wemodel semantic interpretation operationally : constituents interact as their combination in discourse evolves from state to state. The states are recursive data structures and evolve from step to step by context-sensitive rewriting. These notions of context and order let us explain inverse-scope quantifiers and their polarity sensitivity as metalinguistic quotation of the wider scope.


Lime, which is an effective asphalt modifier for improving the moisture resistance of asphalt pavements, can also improve pavement performance and durability in other ways. Hydrated lime added to asphalt can increase penetrations and lower viscosities. The results are reported of age hardening tests performed to obtain quantitative data on the effectiveness of lime in reducing age hardening on 4 widely used AC-10 asphalts from current production and from different geographical afeas. A reduction in age hardening was found for all asphalts used in the study. Also noted was an increase in asphalt stiffness from the lime filler effect which leads to increased stiffness and Marshall strengths in newly constructed pavements. It is pointed out that in arriving at an estimate of the optimum lime concentration, both the age hardening and the stiffness effects must by considered. The effects of lime on the low-temperature flow properties such as ductile flow and resistance to cracking are also discussed. Georgia Department of Transportation's extensive experience with the use of hydrated lime in asphalt pavements is described.


A new template curve for rhodopsin visual pigments is presented. The template was constructed from absorbance spectra of purified bovine rhodopsin with an abscissa transform of &,/A. Absorbance curves generated from the template are compared with absorbance spectra of visual pigments measured in situ in single cells by micros~trophotometry (msp). The template was found to agree well with msp data which included visual pigments with &, values ranging from 450 to 570 nm. A cubic polynomial is given by which the new template may be fitted to the long wavelength limb of visual pigment data. A Chebyshev polynomial is also given which models the new template with a high degree of accuracy. This polynomial provides a convenient method for the computer generation of visual pigment absorbance curves.


The utility model discloses an intelligent power management and control system, including a station control layer and a field device layer. The station-level control layer realizes its communication connection with the field device layer through a network communication layer and includes a maintenance terminal, a monitoring host, a report and alarm printer and a UPS power source; the field device layer includes a collector, an electric energy meter and a loop control device. The intelligent power management and control system provided by the utility model has the advantages that: manual electric quantity recording, counting, and the like can be completely replaced, functions of collecting, statistically calculating and analyzing electricity consumption in factories are realized, healthy condition of electric equipment can be effectively monitored, and operation pattern of electric equipment can be reasonably adjusted and optimized. An electric circuit can start and stop automatically according to system settings and operation requirements so as to realize automatic control on electric equipment. The intelligent power management and control system provided by the utility model can be applied to greatly improve automation level of electric power energy management in factories, achieve purposes of energy saving and efficiency enhancing, and increase economic benefits of the factories.


Several comorbidities including diabetes, immune deficiency, and chronic respiratory disorders increase the risk of severe Covid‐19 and fatalities among SARS‐CoV‐2 infected individuals. Severe Covid‐19 risk among diabetes patients may reflect reduced immune response to viral infections. SARS‐CoV‐2 initially infects respiratory tract epithelial cells by binding to the host cell membrane ACE2, followed by proteolytic priming for cell entry by the host cell membrane serine protease TMPRSS2. Additionally, the protease FURIN facilitates cell exit of mature SARS‐CoV‐2 virions. Alpha‐1 antitrypsin (AAT), the major plasma serine protease inhibitor, encoded by SERPINA1, is known to promote immune response to viral infections. AAT inhibits neutrophil elastase, a key inflammatory serine protease implicated in alveolar cell damage during respiratory infections, and AAT deficiency is associated with susceptibility to lung infections. AAT is implicated in Covid‐19 as it inhibits TMPRSS2, a protease essential for SARS‐CoV‐2 cell entry. Here we show that treatment of A549 human lung epithelial cells for 7 days with 25 mM d‐galactose, an inducer of diabetic‐like and oxidative stress cellular phenotypes, leads to increased mRNA levels of ACE2, TMPRSS2, and FURIN, along with reduced SERPINA1 mRNA. Together, the dysregulated transcription of these genes following d‐galactose treatment suggests that chronic diabetic‐like conditions may facilitate SARS‐CoV‐2 infection of lung epithelial cells. Our findings may in part explain the higher severe Covid‐19 risk in diabetes, and highlight the need to develop special treatment protocols for diabetic patients.


In this paper, a cascade control strategy is proposed for servo motor system with uncertaines and nonlinearities. With this method, not only the lumped unknown dynamics can be accommodated but also the armature current and position tracking performance can be guaranteed. To achieve this purpose, a set of filter operations and simple algebraic calculations are employed to design an unknown system dynamics estimator (USDE) with only one tuning parameter. Then, the USED is integrated with a typical PID controller and a feedback controller for current loop and position loop, respectively. The closed-loop system stability is analysed in terms of the Lyapunov theory. Finally, experiment is carried out based on autofocus optical system to validate the reliability and effectiveness of the proposed method.


Objective To evaluate whether high sensitivity C-reactive protein is associated with microvascular complications in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.Methods A total of 321 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus were recruited.According to the results of 8 h urine albumin excretion rate,ophthalmoscope examination and nerve conduction velocity test,nephropathy,retinopathy and neuropathy were defined respectively.To evaluate differences of the serum hsCRP levels of those with and without nephropathy,retinopathy and neuropathy.Results Only diabetic nephropathy correlated with the serum hsCRP level.With increment of urine albumin excretion rate,hsCRP level was increased.Pearson correlation analysis indicated that hsCRP correlated positively with urine albumin excretion rate(r=0.448,P=0.002),triglyceride(r=0.385,P=0.008),and body mass index(r=0.261,P=0.004).Stepwise linear regression showed that hsCRP and UAER,TG and BMI existed linear correlation.Conclusion hsCRP is associated with diabetic nephropathy and its level is correlated with the degree of diabetic nephropathy.


OBJECTIVE Hereditary progressive dystonia with pronounced diurnal fluctuation ((HPD)/dopa responsive dystonia (DRD)) is a childhood onset dystonia which responds to levodopa. Various clinical signs and symptoms of HPD/DRD have been recognised to date. Mutations in the GTP cyclohydrolase I (GTP-CH-I) gene were recently identified as the cause of HPD/DRD. In the present study, the GTP-CH-I gene and the clinical features of eight HPD/DRD patients from six families were analysed to determine the correlations between clinical expression and the mutations in the GTP-CH-I gene. METHODS The exons, exon-intron junctions, and an indispensable part of the 5' flanking region of the GTP-CH-I gene were sequenced in the eight clinically diagnosed patients with HPD/DRD and their asymptomatic parents. RESULTS Three independent mutations in the GTP-CH-I gene were found in three patients. One of the patients and her asymptomatic mother were heterozygous for a novel mutation at the initiation codon. The three patients with dissimilar GTP-CH-I mutations exhibited similar clinical features. The other five patients with normal sequences presented several features not manifested by the three patients with the mutations. No mutation was found in the 5′ flanking region of any patients or their parents. CONCLUSIONS A novel initiation codon mutation was found in a Japanese patient with HPD/DRD. The clinical manifestations common to the patients with HPD/DRD with a mutated GTP-CH-I gene were also identified. Although focal manifestations of HPD/DRD associated with the mutations of this gene will be broadened, it is inferred that these clinical features are fundamental to HPD/DRD caused by mutations in this gene.


To determine possible changes in prescribing of fluoroquinolones in relation to the European Medicines Agency's (EMA) recommendation in October 2018.


Abstract Internships are a growing, yet controversial, labour market phenomenon. In particular, the issue of unpaid internships has been the source of legislative, judicial and ethical debate. Some have criticised colleges and universities for promoting an expansion of internships for undergraduate students – with little regard for internship characteristics such as compensation, quality of supervision and work activities. Meanwhile, there is a paucity of research examining the role internship characteristics, such as compensation, supervisor behaviours and work design have on internship efficacy. Based on a survey of undergraduate students in the US, the results showed that supervisor mentoring, the developmental value of the internship and the job pursuit intentions of the intern with the host employer were lower for those reporting on their unpaid internship vs. paid internship. Meanwhile, supervisor support and supervisor mentoring are significant predictors of internship efficacy regardless of internship compensation, while work design has much less of an impact on internship efficacy. The implications of the findings for educators, employers and prospective interns are highlighted.


The invention relates to an osteosynthesis device for the spinal column, comprising at least two anchor members (3) adapted to be fixed to two consecutive vertebrae in the spine, and a connecting member (2) adapted to connecting the two anchor members (3) exerting stresses against the approximation of the two anchor members (3) in translation towards each other, the connecting member (2) being elastically deformable in bending about at least one axis of deformation, characterized in that the connecting member consists of a plate (2) curved in the anteroposterior direction to fit the curvature of the spine, and comprises immobilizing means (6, 8) of each anchor member (3), and in that said plate (2) is provided between two fastening members, at least one slot (15) capable of cross ensure the elastic deformation of said plate (2) in a range INCLIN Data e.


Using the method of orthogonal experiment design with four factors and three levels each factor,the author studied the effect of different prevention and control technology combinations of succession cropping obstacle on the main diseases of Radix pseudostellariae. The results showed that the yield( root fresh weight) of Radix pseudostellariae had un-significantly positive correlation with the incidence of black spot and southern blight,and had un-significantly negative correlation with the incidence of leaf spot disease. The influence of different prevention and control technology combinations of succession cropping obstacle on different diseases was different.


Objective: Does passive stretching before and after strength training effect the flexibility of the hamstrings in people who work out? Design: 40 healthy student volunteers, ranging in age from 18 to 35 years old, who work out were randomly divided into four groups, with group A stretching before and after working out, group B stretching just before working out, group C stretching only after working out, and group D abstaining from stretching. The hamstrings of each leg were stretched for 30 seconds. Results: A total of 40 students, of whom 24 (60.0%) were women with a mean age of 23.3 ± 4.18 years, were included in the study. Of that group, 34 (85.0%) had done physical activity at another time. Their workout regimens were aimed at weight loss (n =12/30, 0%), muscle gain (n = 25/62, 5%) and health maintenance (n = 3/7, 5%). The groups that engaged in stretching (A, B and C) experienced a significant increase in hamstring flexibility in the final evaluation (p 0.05). Conclusion: Passive stretching resulted in increased hamstring flexibility, most notably in group A, which stretched the hamstrings before and after workout.


knowledge, the same problems remain hard over arbitrary lattices, even with a quantum computer. More precisely, for certain sub-exponential approximation factors a, a-SVP on ideal lattices admit a polynomial-time algorithm, as depicted in Figure 1. In this survey, we give an overview of the techniques that have lead to these results. The first quantum attack on certain ideal lattices of cyclotomic fields was sketched by Campbell, Groves and Shefferd [5], and applies to a few schemes, in particular to one of the first Fully-Homomorphic Encryption schemes [17]. Yet those broken schemes were based on ad-hoc problems that do not benefit from worse-case hardness. The first step of this attack does not actually solve a lattice problem: it does not provide guarantees about the shortness of lattices, such as lattices generated by a circulant matrix. The earliest example of such a cryptosystem is the NTRUencrypt proposal from Hoffstein et al. [9] from 1998. Algebraically, those lattices can be viewed as ideals or modules over cyclotomic number fields. Nevertheless, there is no guarantee that hard lattice problems remain hard on particular classes of structured lattices, and indeed, a series of results [4–8] have lead to new quantum algorithms solving certain ideal lattice problems. To the best of our The problem of finding a shortest vector of a Euclidean lattice (the shortest vector problem, or SVP) is a central hard problem in complexity theory. Approximated versions of this problem (e.g. a-SVP, the problem of finding a vector at most a times longer than the shortest one) have become the theoretical foundation for many cryptographic constructions. Indeed, lattice-based cryptography typically benefits from worst-case hardness [1, 14, 18]: it is sufficient that there exists some lattices in which finding short vectors is hard for those cryptosystems to be secure. Among several advantages, lattice-based cryptography is also praised for its apparent resistance to quantum algorithms, unlike the current public-key schemes based on factoring or discrete logarithm. The main drawback of lattice-based cryptography is its large memory and bandwidth footprints: a lattice is represented by a basis, i.e. an n n # matrix for a dimension n of several hundreds. For efficiency reasons, it is tempting to rely on structured Advances on quantum cryptanalysis of ideal lattices


This study proposes a speed sensorless vector control strategy for the six-phase linear induction motor (SPLIM) based on the dual reduced-dimensional serial extended Kalman filters (DRDSEKFs). Firstly, the low-order mathematical model of SPLIM is obtained according to the equivalent transformation of primary voltage, current and flux components in the stationary coordinate system. Then, the state equation is derived and the speed estimation based on the five-dimensional extended Kalman filter (EKF) is realised. To reduce the computation cost and improve the accuracy of speed estimation, a DRDSEKFs algorithm is proposed, with one two-dimensional EKF and one three-dimensional EKF operating serially in every control period. As the real-time performance of the algorithm is guaranteed, it is possible to overcome the hysteretic nature of the traditional EKF and improve the dynamic estimation performance. Simulations and experiments show that the proposed sensorless control strategy is feasible and effective.


Objective To establish drug circulation information system for drug purchasing and suppl- ying.Methods The project drew assistance from the computer network techniques to raise solution plan and es- tablish information data exchanging platform to accomplish the transmission and exchange of drug data.Re- suits The project built a complete information management system,including HIS system,digital drug storage system,and online dealing system modules.It realized the informationization of drug purchasing and suppl- ying.Conclusion The drug purchasing and supplying information system is convenient to operate and runs stably.


Handwriting is one of the most complex skills that is learnt and taught. It requires motor, sensory, perceptual, praxis and cognitive functions, and the integration of these functions. When the complex nature of this skill is considered, it comes as little surprise that many children experience difficulty in mastering this area. When an occupational therapist observes that a child referred to the service is having difficulty with handwriting, it becomes necessary for the therapist to administer procedures to identify the strengths and weaknesses that will then become the basis for a remedial programme. This article presents a conceptual framework for evaluating and treating handwriting difficulties presented by children in mainstream education with specific developmental disorder, such as dyspraxia or dyslexia. The performance components and functional performance of handwriting are briefly reviewed. Both evaluation and intervention procedures are discussed in order to guide the therapist in developing remedial and instructional programmes. The article highlights the unique role of the occupational therapist in evaluating and treating a child's functional performance of handwriting skills.